Pulled Apart by Horses - The Haze

‘The Haze’ is also a record which embodies Pulled Apart By Horses' ongoing identity crisis.

Label: CarolineReleased: 17th March 2017Rating: ★★★

Seconds after hitting play on the first and titular track of Pulled Apart By Horses’ latest album, ‘The Haze’, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d put on a record by The Hives in error. This opening ditty is all manic, fuzzy garage-rock a la the Swedish songsmiths, and it’s a wonderfully head-spinning start to proceedings.

The following eleven tracks that make up ‘The Haze’ range from the unrelenting to the unremarkable. There’s plenty of riffing on show, be it the raucous ‘Prince Of Meats’, the groove and swagger of ‘Neighbourhood Witches’ or the brooding ‘My Evil Twin’, and Pulled Apart By Horses are likely to please those already friendly towards their tunes with this album.

The Leeds foursome may, however, struggle to convince those who are a tad more sceptical about the band. ‘The Haze’ does suffer from the odd drop-off in quality, such as on the monotonous ‘Lamping’, and in terms of big moments and memorable choruses, this is an album which promises much but never really quite delivers.

‘The Haze’ is also a record which embodies PABH’s ongoing identity crisis: too heavy on the riffs for many straight-up indie fans to enjoy, yet there’s a nagging aura around the band that suggests they don’t totally belong in the ‘rock’ world, either. It’s unfortunate, because Pulled Apart By Horses are a good band, and ‘The Haze’ is a good record; it’s just unlikely to be good enough to silence the doubters. Jake Richardson